Year 2 Of Our 5 Year Road Trip Is Taking Shape – Here’s What We’re Thinking

It’s hard to believe, but we’re almost 20% of the way through our 5 year, 50 state road trip.

So far this year we’ve visited South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Vermont, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas, then we’re heading to Colorado at the end of the year to spend a few weeks in Denver over Christmas and New Year.

Seeing as it’s almost Thanksgiving, it’s time to start doing some more serious planning as to what 2019 will look like.

Our Old Plan

I started thinking about our 2019 plans about 6 months ago and was kicking around the idea of us visiting the following states in this order:

• New Mexico
• Kansas
• Arizona
• Utah
• Montana
• North Dakota
• Minnesota
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• North Carolina

My parents were planning on visiting us in March/April so that they could join us at the Grand Canyon. They’d have been staying here for three weeks to join us on the road trip and we’d all head to Utah to visit some of the National Parks there.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Those plans have since changed as we need to be back on the east coast several times in 2019. We’d already booked tickets at the beginning of March for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child in New York, but we were thinking of flying there rather than driving back and forth.

Our 15th anniversary is next year and we’ve booked a trip to Bali. Our flights leave from the east coast too, but that trip is in August and so we figured we could drive back for that.

Since making those plans though, something else has come up. One of my best friends in the UK recently announced she’d be getting married at the end of March, so we’re heading back to the UK for a few weeks for her wedding, then spending a few days in Amsterdam at the end of the trip. The date of the wedding is around the time my parents had been thinking of flying over here. We’ll now get to see them in the UK instead, so we’re postponing their visit here until 2020.

We decided to fly from Virginia as there’s a dog sitter we know and trust there who Truffles has stayed many times before. Seeing as we’ll be away for several weeks, we feel much better leaving Truffles with her as she always has a great time and is well taken care of.

That meant we’d have to be on the east coast three times within six months. It didn’t make sense flying and driving back and forth from west to east that frequently, so we’ve decided to focus on visiting east coast states for most of 2019.

Our New Plan

With that in mind, here’s what we’re thinking:

Early January to Mid February

We have an Airbnb booked in Denver until January 6. From there we’ll start heading east and begin the year in Kansas.

That’s because Hutchinson, Kansas is home to Strataca, an underground salt mine museum. That may sound a little random, but there’s a reason why we want to visit there – in February, they have an underground 5k run through the salt mine. You have to wear a helmet and run with a flashlight, so we didn’t want to pass up on the opportunity to participate in such a unique 5k.

Mid February to Mid March

We’ll probably leave Kansas pretty much as soon as we’ve completed the 5k as we’ll have been there about six weeks by that point. From there we’ll take a few days to head all the way to the east coast.

We need to be in New York for March 6, so that gives us about two weeks to visit somewhere by the time we’ve driven from Kansas. After seeing the play in New York, we have another week before we fly to the UK, so that gives us about three weeks total. Three weeks isn’t that long, so we need to focus on a smaller state on the east coast.

There are several small states in the northeast, but February and March up there will likely be cold and snowy so we’re not really feeling that, especially after Christmas in Colorado. That leaves us with a couple of options a little further south – Delaware and Washington D.C.

At this point in time, I’m leaning towards Washington D.C. as it might be better to visit Delaware when it’s a little warmer seeing as they have beaches. We’ll likely visit several museums in D.C., so bad weather is less of an issue in the capital. We visited D.C. last summer for Shae’s birthday, but there’s still plenty to see there – certainly enough to keep us occupied for a few weeks.

Mid March to Early April

Our next stop will be a pause in our 50 state road trip as we’ll head overseas for a few weeks. We’ll be visiting the UK for about 2.5 weeks, then flying to Amsterdam in the Netherlands for a few days before heading back to the US.

While back in the UK we’ll be spending time with my family and visiting friends in the southeast, which is also where the wedding will be. We’re also planning on heading north for a few days to visit Liverpool. We have a few people we’d like to see up there, plus I’ll hopefully be able to catch a Liverpool match. They’re the soccer team I’ve supported since I was a kid, but I’ve never actually caught a game in person. It’ll be towards the end of the season, so hopefully we’ll still be in contention for the Premier League title.

I’m from the UK and Shae also lived there for five years after we got married. We didn’t take enough advantage of cheap travel to other European countries back then, so we want to start making up for that by spending a few days in Amsterdam. Everyone I’ve ever spoken to who’s visited Amsterdam has said it’s a beautiful place, so we’re looking forward to exploring it for ourselves.

Early April to Mid May

Once we’re back in the US, we’ll head slightly westward to Kentucky. We’ve booked tickets for the 2019 Kentucky Derby in May which is why we’ll be visiting at that time of year. Thunder Over Louisville will be on April 13, 2019, so we’re planning on checking that out too.

I started getting into whiskey a year or two ago, so the Bourbon Trail also sounds interesting. Shae doesn’t care for whiskey, so that hopefully means I have a designated driver 😉

Mid May to End of July

May to July is still up in the air a little. We’re figuring we’ll spend some time visiting some smaller states in the northeast, but we haven’t decided on which ones yet.

One of the main factors influencing where we visit those months will be accommodation costs. We’re doing our road trip on a $100 per day budget which has to cover accommodation, food, gas, activities, etc. From doing a little research, it looks like booking Airbnbs will be our best option as hotels seem to be fairly expensive. There aren’t many good value options in the northeast when using our hotel points either.

It looks like we should have 11-12 weeks to play with, so that should be enough time to visit three states. We need to revisit Vermont as we only had time to spend a week there earlier this year, so that’d be 2-3 weeks.

That leaves us with 8-10 weeks to visit any two from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Based on where Vermont is located, it might make sense to visit New Hampshire and Maine as they’re both in that upper northeast corner. Looking at a map though, Maine is much bigger than I realized. I therefore need to do some more research to ensure we’d have enough time to explore that state.

Alternatively, it might be better only visiting Vermont and one other northeastern state for now. We’ll be heading south from there, so we might spend those few remaining weeks in Delaware along the way.

Early August to Mid August

The first couple of weeks in August will be spent in Bali celebrating both our 15th anniversary and Shae’s birthday. On our way back, we have a long layover in Tokyo. We’re planning on heading into the city as there’s a cafe Shae wants to visit where you can pet hedgehogs while having something to drink.

Mid August to End of September

After Bali, we’re flying back in to Virginia. As a result, we’re planning on spending late summer in Virginia.

On the one hand that’s a good thing as it means we should have great weather, barring any hurricanes. On the other hand, we lived in Virginia for seven years before setting off on our road trip and know how hot and humid it can get, so outdoor activities might not be as much fun.

Early October to Mid November

From Virginia, the plan is to head to West Virginia. The main reason is because October 19, 2019 will be Bridge Day.

We first heard of Bridge Day about ten years ago and promised ourselves we’d attend one year. It’s a festival held each year at the New River Gorge Bridge with BASE jumpers leaping off the bridge. Teams can also rappel from the bridge, while there’s a zipline for us regular people to participate in the fun.

The bonus of visiting West Virginia in the fall is how stunning it’ll be with trees changing color.

Mid November to End of December

We’ll then round out the year in Tennessee. There’s a trail run on Lookout Mountain Shae wants to participate in which is in December. We’ve also been told that Tennessee is home to all kinds of Christmas-related extravaganzas, so it’s perfect for that time of year.

Apparently many bald eagles winter in Tennessee from October to February/March, so we’ll hopefully get to see some while there.

All that should mean we visit nine states in 2019. That’s lower than the average of ten states per year we’re aiming for, but our five weeks overseas means we likely won’t have time for a tenth.